Accessibility - Explore Luxor

Our Commitment

Explore Luxor exists to make the history and heritage of Luxor accessible to everyone in the world. That mission extends to the website itself. We are committed to ensuring that exploreluxor.org can be used by as many people as possible – including those who use assistive technologies, those with visual, auditory, motor, or cognitive impairments, and those accessing the site on older devices or slower connections.

We believe that heritage knowledge should have no barriers. A person using a screen reader, a keyboard-only user, or someone with low vision should be able to read about the Valley of the Kings or Karnak Temple as easily as anyone else.

Our principle: Accessibility is not a feature to be added later – it is a fundamental quality standard. We build with it in mind from the start and treat accessibility issues with the same seriousness as factual errors.

Conformance Standard

Our target conformance standard is Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 Level AA, published by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C).

The four core WCAG principles that guide our approach are:

Perceivable – information and user interface components must be presentable to users in ways they can perceive.

Operable – user interface components and navigation must be operable via keyboard alone or other assistive input methods.

Understandable – information and the operation of the interface must be understandable.

Robust – content must be robust enough to be interpreted reliably by a wide variety of user agents, including assistive technologies.

Our current status is partially conformant – we meet the majority of AA criteria, with known exceptions noted in the Known Limitations section.

What We’ve Done

The following accessibility features are currently implemented across exploreluxor.org:

Colour Contrast

All body text meets or exceeds WCAG AA minimum contrast ratios. Small text uses colours with at least 4.5:1 contrast on white.

Semantic HTML

Pages use proper heading hierarchy (H1–H3), landmark elements, and semantic HTML5 elements throughout to support screen reader navigation.

Image Alt Text

All meaningful images include descriptive alt text. Decorative images use empty alt attributes so screen readers skip them appropriately.

Keyboard Navigation

All interactive elements are accessible via keyboard. Focus states are clearly visible on all pages.

Language Declaration

All pages declare their language using the lang attribute, enabling correct pronunciation by screen readers.

Responsive Design

The site is fully responsive and usable on mobile, tablet, and desktop. Text can be zoomed to 200% without loss of content or functionality.

Skip Navigation

A skip-to-main-content link is the first focusable element on every page, allowing keyboard users to bypass repeated page elements.

No Flashing Content

The site contains no flashing or strobing content. All animations respect the prefers-reduced-motion system setting.

Technical Approach

Explore Luxor relies on the following technologies for accessibility compliance:

HTML5 – semantic markup with proper use of headings, lists, landmarks, and form labels

CSS3 – styling that does not convey meaning through colour alone; focus indicators always visible

WAI-ARIA – ARIA roles, states, and properties used where native HTML semantics are insufficient

JavaScript – interactive features built to be operable without JavaScript where possible; keyboard and screen reader support implemented where JS is required

prefers-reduced-motion – CSS media query respected, disabling or reducing animations for users who have indicated this preference

prefers-color-scheme – full dark mode support is planned for a future update

Content Accessibility

Accessibility applies to content as much as to code. We apply the following standards to the written and visual content we publish:

Plain English – clear language, avoiding unnecessary jargon; specialist terms are explained in context

Reading level – accessible to interested non-specialists without sacrificing accuracy or depth

Link text – hyperlinks use descriptive text that makes sense out of context; we avoid “click here” without context

Image descriptions – all significant images have descriptive alt text; complex images have extended descriptions where needed

No information conveyed by colour alone – colour is never the sole means of conveying information

Consistent navigation – navigation, headers, and footers are consistent across all pages

Known Limitations

We are honest about areas where we do not yet fully meet our target standard. The following known limitations are being actively worked on:

In Progress

Dark mode not fully supportedFull dark mode support via prefers-color-scheme is not yet implemented across all pages. This is planned for a future design update.

Planned

PDF documentsDownloadable PDF documents may not be fully accessible to screen reader users. We plan to audit these and provide accessible HTML alternatives.

Planned

Video content captionsVideo content linked from this site may not always include captions or transcripts. We are working to ensure all future video content meets captioning standards.

In Progress

Complex interactive mapsInteractive maps on some pages may not be fully keyboard navigable. We are reviewing text-based equivalents for map-dependent content.

We update this list as issues are resolved or newly identified. If you encounter an issue not listed here, please report it – see the Feedback section below.

Assistive Technology

Explore Luxor is designed to be compatible with the following assistive technologies:

Screen readers – NVDA with Firefox, JAWS with Chrome, VoiceOver with Safari (macOS and iOS), TalkBack with Chrome (Android)

Keyboard-only navigation – tested across all interactive elements on major browsers

Browser zoom – content remains readable and functional at 200% zoom without horizontal scrolling

High contrast mode – pages are reviewed in Windows High Contrast Mode

Voice control – tested with Dragon NaturallySpeaking

Browser support: We support the current and previous major versions of Chrome, Firefox, Safari, and Edge. Internet Explorer is not supported.

Third-Party Content

Some content and functionality on exploreluxor.org is provided by third-party services. We do not have direct control over the accessibility of third-party platforms, but we make deliberate choices about which services we embed or link to.

Brevo newsletter – our newsletter is managed via Brevo, which has its own accessibility standards outside our direct control

External links – we link to external websites including academic journals, official institutions, and government sites. We cannot guarantee their accessibility

Social media embeds – any social media content embedded on this site is subject to the accessibility standards of the respective platforms

Where third-party content creates an accessibility barrier, we aim to provide a text-based equivalent.

Feedback & Contact

We welcome feedback on the accessibility of exploreluxor.org. If you encounter a barrier that prevents you from accessing content, please tell us.

Email: [email protected]
Subject line: Accessibility
Response time: We aim to respond within 48 hours

In your message, please include:

The URL of the page where you encountered the issue

A description of what the problem is and what you were trying to do

The assistive technology or browser you were using, if relevant

Alternative formats: If you need any content from this site in a different format – such as a plain text version of an article, larger print, or an audio description – please contact us and we will do our best to accommodate your request.

Review Schedule

This Accessibility Statement is reviewed and updated at least annually, and whenever significant changes are made to the site’s design or functionality.

Our accessibility work is ongoing. We:

Review all new page designs against WCAG 2.1 AA criteria before publishing

Address all accessibility bug reports within our standard correction timeframe

Conduct periodic reviews of the entire site to identify and resolve issues

Update the Known Limitations section as issues are resolved or newly discovered

This statement was last reviewed in April 2026. The next scheduled review is April 2027.

Accessibility Statement